Politics & Government

Portage Elections Board Launches Twitter Account

Voters can interact with elections board officials via social media

The Portage County Board of Elections has joined Twitter to provide another means of spreading information to the county's voters.

By launching a Twitter account, which can be found under the tag @PortageOHBOE, the Portage elections board joins a relatively small group of election officials using the service in Ohio.  

“Right now, only three other Ohio Boards of Elections—Cuyahoga, Franklin, and Summit counties—are active on Twitter,” Director Faith Lyon said.  “This really is a cutting edge tool, and gives us a new way to bring information from our website about registering to vote or requesting an absentee ballot directly to voters.”

In addition to linking to website information, the board will use its Twitter account to post meeting notices, recruit election workers and notify voters of last-minute changes that effect voting hours and locations.  

“Using Twitter will allow us reach voters where they are with up to the minute information,” Deputy Director Brad Cromes added.  “We think it will help engage more people in the process, particularly young people, and give us a low-cost way of helping folks get informed and exercise their right to vote.”

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The Board’s Twitter account became active Thursday.  In addition to frequent updates on voting, the account will feature information for local candidates, and provide a conduit to information from state and federal election agencies like the Ohio Secretary of State’s office and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.


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